Gadeokdo Island in Busan (right of the photo) and the entire area of the Busan Port New Port. yunhap news
In addition, the new airport special law on Gadeok Island, a long-awaited project in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam, actively promoted by the Democratic Party, passed the general meeting of the National Land Transportation Committee on the 19th. The key issue, the preliminary feasibility study (preliminary) exemption clause, was decided to remain after controversy. It paved the way for very large civil works with project costs of 10 to 20 trillion won to be immediately promoted without going through an economic feasibility study. Legislation for the construction of a new airport in the Southeast region, which has been drawn for nearly 20 years, was virtually ended with the agreement of the opposition parties to capture the public sentiment of Busan ahead of the by-election, and the passing of the plenary session on the 26th is certain.
The ruling and opposition parties held a general meeting of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the same day, and voted on the Special Law of Gadeokdo New Airport with 21 members in favor of the 23 members of the Republic of Korea. The main issue was’If necessary, the preliminary feasibility study (preliminary) can be exempted for quick and smooth construction’. Rep. Lee Heon-seung, a secretary of the opposition party of the National Land, Infrastructure Commission, said, “Yeta has organized it in such a way that the Minister of Strategy and Finance can exempt it for quick and smooth airport construction if necessary.” However, environmental impact assessment is not exempted.
The key to choice was to escape the controversy over preferential treatment, but it is unclear how free the ruling party can in reality. Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister of Economy and Minister of Equipment, is being dragged to the Party Office every time in fiscal battles such as disaster subsidies.
Yeta is a system that verifies and evaluates the policy and economic feasibility of a project before promoting public investment projects, targeting projects with a total budget of 50 billion won or more. Although Gadeok is also a new airport, where a whopping 200 times more budget is invested than the standard, it paved the way to bypass difficult pre-procedures such as Yeta for quick promotion.
Preliminary candidates for the Busan Mayor of the Democratic Party, including former lawmaker Kim Young-chun (center), are holding a joint press conference in front of the main office of the National Assembly on the 19th to pass the Special Act of Gadeokdo New Airport. Newsis
In spite of concerns about special provisions, the Gadeokdo New Airport Special Act took steps to deal with the National Assembly because the political interests of the ruling and opposition parties were aligned ahead of the election. In the subcommittee of the National Land Commission’s legislation held on the 17th, members of the ruling and opposition parties left the opposition to say that they were’excessive preferential treatment’, and the amendment to remove the special provisions was discussed. The Democratic Party wants to leave a clear impression on the public sentiment of the Busan-Gyeongnam (PK) region as a new airport ahead of the 4-7 Busan mayor’s by-election and next year’s presidential election. The power of the people, who struggled between the public sentiment of Daegu and Gyeongbuk (TK) and PK, who wanted to build a new airport in a region other than Gadeok Island, also voted in favor of the by-election.
Kim Jong-in (fifth from the left in the front row) visited the Gadeok Island Counter Observation Deck in Gangseo-gu, Busan on the 1st to sign a sign that says Gadeokdo New Airport with prospective candidates for the Mayor of Busan and take a commemorative photo. Busan = Yonhap News
There is strong criticism that the ruling and opposition parties have broken down the minimum safeguards to prevent the waste of budget in large-scale national projects. Rep. Sim Sang-jeong, who voted against at the plenary meeting on the day, said, “Gadeokdo new airport is just a’election airport’ and’ticketing airport’ ahead of the by-election.” “The law is the product of the rivalry of both parties.”
There are also concerns that there may be attempts to evade Yeta with special laws in order to promote large-scale civil works in the future. In fact, on the 28th of last month, members of the People’s Strength in the TK region proposed the’Daegu-Gyeongbuk New Airport Construction Special Act’ with the nature of crossfire for the new airport on Gadeokdo Island. In the future, the subcommittee on transportation will continue to discuss. An official from the National Assembly worried that “it is excessive to build two airports in the southeast region, but there is not enough justification for giving special exceptions to Gadeokdo Island and not giving special exceptions to Daegu and Gyeongbuk new airports.” Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon, secretary of the ruling party of the National Land, Infrastructure Commission, declared, “We decided to continue to take care of the new airports in Daegu and Gyeongbuk,” just before the vote of the Special Act on Gadeok Island New Airport.
Seongtaek Lee reporter [email protected]
Hong In-taek reporter [email protected]
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